Because it is desirable to have some multi-leafed materials such as telephone books, catalogs and magazines available for public use, various devices have been considered to prevent unauthorized removal of these materials. Among these devices are binders which secure a book by means of support rods or wires interleaved among the pages of the book. The support rods are then fixed to mounts at either end of the book. For instance, Nawman (U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,212) described a telephone book holder with metal rods which are interleaved among the pages of the book or pass through the backing of the book. The ends of the metal rods are received by holes in perpendicular flanges which project from either end of the spine. The ends of the support rods may be bent or expanded to secure them to the flanges and thus prevent removal of the book from the binder. Shepherd et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,623) described a book holder with book retaining wires pivotally connected at the top end of the spine which can be press fitted to the other end of the spine to retain a telephone book in position. Top and bottom caps are securable to the ends of the spine to retain the covers and the wires on the spine.
Although security binders which incorporate rods or wires interleaved among the pages of a book to secure the book within a binder are useful in preventing unauthorized removal of materials, this type of security binder also presents some difficulties. In some instances, especially where the rod or wire is made thicker or wider to give the rod more strength, those words which are printed nearest the spine of the book can be obscured by the rod. In addition, typically several steps are required to interleave rods and install a telephone book within such a device. This is especially apparent in devices made according to the Shepherd et al. disclosure in which separate top and bottom caps are needed to retain the covers and wires on the spine.
Although some of the devices discussed above present viable means for securing multi-leafed materials within a binder or to a spine, it is desirable to have a device of single piece construction which can be readily fitted to the spine of multi-leafed materials, such as telephone books. It is also desirable to have a device which grips the ends of the multi-leafed material so that no portion of the printed text of the book is obscured by a rod which has been interleaved between the pages of the book.